lltno 


The  Gospel  of  p 
Conf  Pam  12mo  #714 


ANGELICAL  TRACT  SOCIETY,)  ^      ± 

Petersburg,  Va.         f  No.  220. 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  PEACE. 


Sin  hag  wrought  variance  between  God  and  man.  It  has  broken 
the  bend  that  fastened  them  together,  and  made  distance  where 
before  there  was  nearness,  estrangement  where  before  there  was 
friendship  and  peace.  Such  and  so  terrible  is  the  evil  of  sin  ;  so 
ruinous  its  nature  ;  so  great  its  power,. 

It  was  the  law  that  gave  to  sin  this'  separating,  alienating 
power.  It  was  the  law  that  enabled  sin  to  break  the  peace  be- 
tween God  and  man.  Fur  the  law  said,  ''There  can  bo  no  peace 
between  thehofy  and  the  unholy  ;  there  can  only  be  enmity  and 
War."  Such  and  so  awful  is  tho  holiness  of  the  law;  so  perfect 
fca  nature  ;  so  fad  its  power. 

How  then  sha41  this  aAvful  law  bo  persuaded  to  forego  its  claims, 
or  allow  the  righteous  and  the  -unrighteous  to  com'e  together? — 
How  shall  the  ruined  peace  between  God  and  man  be  recovered, 
and  the  broken  friendship  restored?  How  shall  the  king  and 
his  revolting  subjects  be  reconciled,  and  yet  the  law  of  the  realm 
stand  firm?  How'  shall  God  ray  to  the  law-breaking  rebel, 
"Come,  enter  into  frii  dth  me?" 

If  it  was  sin,  thru,  that  made' us  "out  of  peace"  with  God,  we 
can  only  be  made  to  be  at  peace  with.  Him  through  the  taking 
away  of  that  which  came  between  us  and  God.  No  other  way 
would  have  bee;  \  or  honorable- to  God.    Peace 

given  us  in  any  other  way  would   have  been  false  and  insecure. 
It  would  nut  ha  ,  and  it  could  not  last. 

God  has  taken  the  one  true  and  blessed  way  of  making  peace. 
He  has  taken  out  of  the  way  that  which  made  peace  impossible. 
He  has  sent  His  Son  to  I  f  the.  great  hindrance.  "That 

Son  has  come,  and  taken  s  i  tim,    though   He  had  no  sin 

of  his  own.     He  has  i  to  seize  upon  Him,  and  con- 

demn Him,  as  if  he  were  the  sinner.  He  has  borne  everything 
that  we  should  have  borne,  and  done  everything  that  we  should 
have  done.  Thus  the  law  has  been  wondrously  honored  by  His. 
ing  :  it  has  not  only  been  shewn  to  be  "holy, 
and  just  and  good,"  but  far  more  holy  and- just  and  good  than  it 
wits  ever  seen  to  be  before.  This  Divine  obeyor  of  the  law,  and 
bearer  of  its  penalties,  and  answerer  of  its  claims,  has  done  far 
more  to  honor  the  law  than  we  had  done  to   dishonour  it.     Had 


2  THE  GOSPEL  OF   PEACE. 

the  law  kept  hold  of  us  for  all  eternity,  and  pressed  its  awful 
claims,  it  could  not  have  gotten  half  so  much  satisfaction  as  it 
has  done,  by  the  one  obedience  and  endurance  of  the  Son  of  God. 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  having  done  all  this  in  the  sinner's 
stead,  the  law  has  no  right  nor  power  to  insist  upon  its  claims  be- 
ing answered  by  us  in  our  own  persons.  These  claims,  no|doubt 
remain  the  same,  for  the  law  changes  not  in  one  in  jot  or  tittle  ; 
it  remains  the  same  terrible  and  inexorable  law  ;  but  then  one  has 
been  found  able  to  take  all  these  claims  upon  himself,  and  meet 
them  to  the  lull. 

Thus  the  law  is  honored,  righteousness  is  satisfied,  God  is  glo- 
rified ;  and  all  in  a  way  which  provides  for  the  removal  of- that 
sin  which  stood  between  the  sinner  and  God.  Thus  the  sinner's 
pardon  is  made  truly  a  righteous  thing ;  an  act  of  justice  as  en- 
tirely as  it  is  an  act  of  grace.  The  sinner's  salvation  does  more 
for  the  honor  of  God  and  of  Ills  law  than  his  condemnation  could 
have  done.  And  all  the  reasons  that  might  once  have  been  urged 
for  his  being  condemned,  may  now  be  urged  with  far  greater 
force  for  his  being  forgiven. 

This  is  the  foundation  which  God  has  laid^  for  our  peace. — 
Surely  it  is  deep,  and  broad,  and  sure  enough"  to  bear  the  load 
that  is  laid  upon  ft.  For  thus  it  is  written,  "Behold,  I  lay  in 
Zion  for  a  foundation,  a  stcne,  a  tried  stone,  a  precious  corner- 
stone, a  sure  foundation:  he  that  believeth  shall  not  make  haste" 
(Isa.  xxviii.  10.) 

All  this  having  been  done,  God  now  "preaches  peace  to  us 
through  Jesus  Christ."  And  from  the  Way  in  which  it  has  been 
brought  about,  we  are  assured  that  it  is  a  peace  that  will  stand. 
However  violently  it  may  be  assaulted,  it  will  not  give  way.  It 
is  not  a  peace  which  we  have  still  to  "make,"  as  many  seem  to 
suppose,  when  they  say  to  a  dying  man,  "Make  your  peace  with 
God."  It  is  a  peace  already  made— made  by  God,  through  the 
work  of  His  Son  on  Calvary — "Having  made  peace  through  .the 
blood  of  his  cioss"  (Col.  i.  20.)  "The  chastisement  of  our  peace 
was  upon  him,  and  by  his  stripes  we  are  healed"  (Isa.'  liii.  5). 
It  is  this  finished  peace  that  God  is  now  making  known  to  the 
sons  of  men.  And  hence  He  is  called  the  "God  of  peace,"  and 
the  gospel  which  He  has  given  us  to  preach  is  called,  the  "gospel 
of  peace"— that  is,  the  good  news  of  a  peace  which  God  has  made, 
jsx  peace  which  he  holds  out  to  us  so  freely,  that  in  simply  believ- 
ing the  good  news  concerning  it,  we  get  at  once  the  peace  whieh- 
they  contain. 

Hence  the  apostle  prayed,  in  behalf  of  the  brethren  at  Rome, 
vThe  God  of  hope  fill  you  with  all  joy  and  pejace  in  believing" 
(Rom.  xv.  13).  Hence,  in  another  part  of  the  same  epistle,  he 
set  i'orih  the  ground  on  which  they  stood — "Being  justified  by 
faith, -we  have peace  with  God,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.'-' 
And  hence  he  prayed  in   behalf  of  the  Thessalonian  brethren. 


THE   GOSPEL    OF    PEACE.  6 

"The  Lord  of  peace  give   you  peace  always,  by  all  means"  (2 
Thess.  iii.  10). 

In  the  Lord  Jesus,  then,  as  the  atoning  one,  the  mediating  one, 
the  reconciling  one,  rwe  have  peace.  "He  is  our  peace,"  says  the 
apostle.  He  is  the '"Prince  of  peace; '*  says  the  prophet;  and 
again,  "The  chastisement  of  out  peace  was  upon  him."  "I  will 
reveal  to  them,"  says  Jehovah,  "the  abundance  of  peace ;w  and 
again,  "The  work  of  righteousness  shall  be  peace,  and  the effect 
of  righteousness,  quietness  and  assurance  forever;"  and  again, 
"I  will  make  with  them  a  covenant  of  peace;"  and  again, 
"In  this  place  will  I  gyve  peace."  The  good  news  announced  in 
the  angelic  song  was,  "On  earth  peace,  good-will  toward  men." — 
Nay,  in  looking  forward  to  the  birth  of  this  great  Peace-maker, 
thus  the  aged  j£acharias  sang:  "Thou,  child,  shaft  be  called  the 
Prophet  of  the  Highest;  for  thou  shall  go  before  the  face  oi  the 
Lord,  to  prepare  his  ways:  to  give  knowledge  of  salvation  unto 
bis  people,  by  the  remission  of  their  sins,  through  the  tender 
mercy  of  our  God ;  whereby  the  day-spring  from  on  high  hath 
visited  ug,  to  give  light  to  them  that  sit  in  darkness  and  in  the 
shadow  oi  death,  to  guide  our  feet  into  the  way  of  peace." 

Such.  then,  are  the 'good  news. of  the  Divine  Peace-maker  and 
His  peace-making  work.  All  that  was  needful  for  the  securing 
of  our  peace  has  been  finished  by  Him  on  the  cross.  There  is  no 
part  ot  our  peace  that  requires  still  to  be  made.  That  which  re- 
mains for  us  is  not  to  make  our  peace,  but  to  receive  the  divinely- 
made  peace  of  the  great  Reconciler.  The  knowledge  of  Him,  and 
of  what  lie  has  done,  is  all  we  need  for  the  '  tai.ning  and  pre- 
serving of  peace  in  our  souls. 

In  the  "gospel  of  peace"  God  comes  to  us  d  daring  the  pro- 
vision which  has  been  nude  for  effecting reconci  vtionwiih  Him- 
self. He  tells  us  that  there  is  no  longer  an\  reason  why  we 
should  be  afraid  of  Him,  or  wand  aloof  from  Him,  as  if  He  were 
our  great  enemy.  The  reasons  that  existed  ior  this  dread  have 
been  taken  out  of  the  way.  The  character  in  which  he  has  re- 
vealed Himself  is  such  as  to  invite,  not  repel,  us.  The  name  lie 
takes  to  Himself— "the  God  of  peace,"  "Jehovah-shalom"-is  Bueh 
as  is  fitted  to  win  our  confluence,  and  make  us  feel  how  safe  the 
sinner  "is  in  coming  back  to  God,  and  intrusting  to  Him  his  all 
for  eternity.  The  sending  of  the  Son  as  the  Peace-maker  shews 
us  how  truly  his  thoughts  toward  us  were  thoughts  of  peace.  The 
giving  us  the  Holy  Spirit  to  reveal  to  us  this  Peaces-maker  and 
His  blessed  work  of  propitiation,  shews  how  bent  He  is  on  carry 
ing  into  effect  these  thoughts  of  peace.  His  reconciling  so  many 
thousands  of  enemies  in  ages  past,  shews  us  that  he  is  resolved  that 
the  neace-making  blood  shall  not  be  shed  in  vain,  and  that  men 
shall  sec  how  thoroughly  it  can  doits  work  of  bringing  back  the 
sinner  to  Himself,  oi*  casting  out  fear,  and  of  producing  love  and 
trust.     His  many- words  of  gracious  welcome  shew  us  how  earn- 


THE   GOSPEL   OP  PEACE. 


estly  He  presses  upon  us    the  reconciliation  of  his  cov 
peace — "lurn  ye,  turn  ye,  for  why  will' ye  die?"     "0  t 


6* 

fa 

•enant  of     # 
that  thou 
hadst  hearkened  to  my  commandments  !•  then  had  thy  peace  been 
as  a  river,  and  thy  righteousness  as  the  waves  of  the  sea." 

In  preaching  to  us  thp  good  news  of  peace.  He-is  pressing  upon 
us  still  the  same  proposals  of  grace.  lie  will  not  let  us  rest.  "He 
knows  that  distance  from  Him  is  misery,  and  that  enmity  to  Him 
is  theory  essence  of  hell ;  and,  therefore/Tie  is  desirous  that  we 
should  return  and  he  at  peace  with  him.  He  knows  that  there  is 
no  cure  for  the  soul's  many  maladies,'  nor- rest  from  the  soul's 
many  troubles,  save  in  friendship  with  Himself;  and,  therefore, 
lie  entreats  us  to  be  reconciled,  and  become  His  friends.  He  knows 
the  infinite  blessings  of  fellowship  with  Hiii-.self ;  the  cloep  and 
wondrousjoy  that  there  is  in  His  1'ove  ;  and,  therefore,  He  ceases 
not  to  ply  us  with  every  argument  that  might  persuade  us  to  come 
and  share,  this  gla<liie«B.     "0  taste  and  scethattheLordis  good."  * 

The  gospel  of  peace,  Vvhen  it  comes  to  us,  dues  not  ask  for  any 
previous  goodness  or  preparedne; :  in  us,  a  t*e  only  design- 

ed for  a  better  class  of  sinners.    L  ■     it  £  tide  us,  and: 

addresses  us  as  such.     It  finds  us  qui  ,  :.  lie  gospel 

of  peace/'  it  makes  known  its  tidings  _e£  peace.'  out  its 

olive-branch,  and  sa;,,,   'Bern    aci]  -far 

off— it  seeks  to  bring  us  nigh  ;  its  !'■■■■  i  -  seeks  to  make 

us  sons !  . 

And  as  this  gospul  of  peaee  1'  ul  by 

its  glad  tidings,  so  does  it  preserve  that  peace  unto  the  end.     Its 
of    peace  come  ever  fresh  to  u  rig  down  on  us  like" 

the  evening  dew,  or  carrying  light  into  our  hearts  like  the  morn- 
ing sunshine.     It  brings  to  us  fresh  new  ach  uny,  from 
the  God  of  peace  ;  and  put  of  peace9  • 
it  is  ever  pouring  into  us  now                                           3ace  like  a 
river,"  is  our  portion  even  h                                     "  to  our  soul"., 
"Peace,  peace,  when                             ■."     "We  speak  peace  to  our-  • 
selves,-  because  G                                           ;  us   through  the  cr 
where  peace  was  made  -..and  fi                          -  om  a  fountain,  peace 
continues  to                                                                    '   which  come* 
straight  to  usfrt  that  our 
dealings  are 'wit:                                                                  '    true  and 
sure  will  be  our                                             ice  tliat   passeth  all  uii- 
dcrstandin                                                          aally    the  promii 
the  "Lord  of]  -        '                                             'Peace  i  leave  ■ 
you  ;  my  peac ..-.,• 
unto  you.." 


Hollinger  Corp, 
pH  8.5 


